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Welcome from France, Veronica !

The unbridled imagination of the Romanesque Age sculptors (2023) The Age of the Romanesque (roughly between 1000 and 1200) was when Christian sculpture blossomed and spread to all parts of churches and monasteries. It did so especially on capitals, those trapeze-shaped stones inserted between a...

Orange (2018) The “cheap”, supposedly second-tier Micro-Nikkor 60mm ƒ/2.8 D macro lens is the best glass deal I ever got in my life. Back then in the days of the F mount, my macro lens of choice was, of course, the 105/2.8 G VR, and I regarded its smaller, non-VR brother as an inferior...

Early morning, somewhere in Sardinia (2018) Nikon D850, Nikkor 35mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

Oh, all right... but then, in my “Dr. Temperance Brennan” manner, what should I do about the photo above? Simply praise, and otherwise remain silent? Genuine/naive question. :unsure:

A village church in Burgundy (2023) Bois-Sainte-Marie may be a very quiet village today, but from around Year 1000 and throughout the Middle Ages, it was a busy market town on the road linking Paray-le-Monial to Cluny. Enclosed in a sheet wall, it was the seat of an archpriesthood dependent on...

Saint Étienne (Stephen) priory church in Nevers, France (2022) Transept and nave seen from the high gallery. Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light.

A Normandy Manor (2018) In October 2018, as I was enjoying a couple of months of pre–retirement furlough, I went for a week to Normandy, and more specifically the Pays de Caux (Upper Normandy). The manor of Archelles is a lovely 16th century manor where I stayed for most of my week in Normandy...

Amsterdam, September 2017 In September 2017, we spent a few days in Amsterdam. This was the last time I used my Fuji X–Pro 2. That trip finished to convince me that, in spite of all its many qualities, the Fuji gear was not quite up to speed with my Nikon kit, especially regarding the...

That is also what I thought when I first looked at it. However, once I sat on a pew and gave it some thought for a moment, I understood how it actually worked in spite of the glaring æsthetic rupture. I was myself quite surprised when I left the church a believer in this modern addition. Below...

Another lonely church in Sardinia (2019) This one, San Nicola in Silanis, is not only built in complete isolation in a peaceful and quiet vale, it is also quite large (three naves!), and in ruin... Nikon Z7, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ adapter. Gitzo tripod...

An anti-heat weapon (2020) As is generally the case owing to global warming, near Lyon where I live in France Summers tend to be hotter and hotter, and longer as well. As my wife is fiercely opposed to air conditioning (and of course she’s right about its adverse effects on the said global...

Room with a view (2015) The bedroom in our rented house on the Costa Amalfitana offered very nice views over the Tyrrhenian Sea, although that day, it was somewhat compromised by mist... Nikon D810, Nikkor “Nifty Fifty” 50mm, ƒ/1.4 G lens, handheld.

A choir of white marble (2022) The parochial Romanesque church of Melle, a small town of about 6,000 inhabitants in western France, features a modern choir “installation” created in 2011 by French artist Mathieu Lehanneur —a designer better known today for having created the very large flying...

The lonely church (2018) The Italian large island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean is a place I love. I have been there many times, as a teenager and as an adult, alone, with just my wife and with our children, by car or on my boat, inland and along the coastline, in the Winter, Spring and...

Red and Blue (2020) Even humble Sharpies can look good when they do their best. It’s all about the lighting! ;) Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 85mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Multi-flash lighting. Composite shot made up of 10 focus-stacked exposures, set automatically...

A cathedral by the sea (2015) The San Niccola Pellegrino Romanesque cathedral in the coastal southern Italy town of Trani is one of the most beautiful and impressive Romanesque churches I have ever seen. Construction on this enormous cathedral began in 1099 and was completed by 1149, i.e., at a...

Saint Peter priory church in Carennac (2022) Originally founded by the abbey of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne and dedicated to Saint Peter, the priory church in the village of Carennac (southwestern France) was later given an astounding portal and historied tympanum, which is famous worldwide among the...

The lonely menhir of Lostmarc’h (2018) The moor of Lostmarc’h on the Crozon Peninsula in Brittany provides some breathtaking landscapes and seascapes. When I took this photo, it was a very dark, damp and desolate end of afternoon in December, and I didn't have much hope as I walked the moor...

The Frog (2020) The frog was pilfered from my wife’s workshop to sit on yellow leather for a theme-based Flickr group. You guessed the theme: “yellow”. Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z “Nifty Fifty” 50mm, ƒ/1.8 S lens. Gitzo tripod, Arca-Swiss Cube C1 geared head. Multi-flash lighting.